The Mt Kenya Times 
Plan International Kenya hosted a virtual dialogue to gather the perspectives of young Kenyans on the impact of the hunger crisis on children and young women
Young Kenyans call for urgent action on hunger crisis
By Elizabeth Angira
Worth Noting:
- Kenya’s ability to adapt to climate change and capacity to cushion vulnerable communities, to the ultimate test.
- There are indications that humanitarian actors may be losing the battle to address all severe impacts of the hunger crisis, with over 4 million people in the affected counties struggling to access clean water, food, and nutrition for children, pregnant and breastfeeding women. The coverage of humanitarian assistance, particularly in the Marsabit, Turkana, Garissa, and Wajir counties, is poor – many people in the far-flung areas are left out
- The hunger crisis, which is also affecting Kenya’s neighbouring countries namely Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan, has been a rude awakening for the region after a long wait for more funds has not yielded satisfactory results despite evidence of deaths related to hunger in all four countries.
Plan International Kenya has hosted a virtual dialogue to gather the perspectives of young Kenyans on the impact of the hunger crisis on children and young women in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) of the country.
The 18 participants aged between 11 and 24 years, were drawn from Plan International’s Girls Takeover Initiative, that took place between 6 and 14 October, as part of the commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child, held annually on October 11.
The initiative seeks to raise awareness on the need to remove barriers that stand in the way of girls’ and young women’s leadership opportunities, decision-making and visibility. It gives girls and young women the opportunity to step into the shoes of leaders and decision-makers from various sectors in a mass takeover aimed at encouraging and mentoring them to learn and be confident to lead.
During the hunger crisis dialogue, all participants expressed fear over the devastating long-term effects of the drought on vulnerable children, particularly girls, and the once-promising future of Kenya.
They lamented the exclusion of young people in decision-making, which they attributed to the country’s inability to effectively address the protection risks for girls in the current hunger crisis.
The severe drought has overwhelmed the region for four consecutive rainy seasons, putting Kenya’s ability to adapt to climate change and capacity to cushion vulnerable communities, to the ultimate test.
There are indications that humanitarian actors may be losing the battle to address all severe impacts of the hunger crisis, with over 4 million people in the affected counties struggling to access clean water, food, and nutrition for children, pregnant and breastfeeding women. The coverage of humanitarian assistance, particularly in the Marsabit, Turkana, Garissa, and Wajir counties, is poor – many people in the far-flung areas are left out
The hunger crisis, which is also affecting Kenya’s neighbouring countries namely Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan, has been a rude awakening for the region after a long wait for more funds has not yielded satisfactory results despite evidence of deaths related to hunger in all four countries.Ms. Faridah Akinyi, a 20-year-old young advocate who took over the position of the Deputy Head of the EU delegation, Her Excellency Katrin Hagemann, during Plan International’s Girls Takeover Initiative said the solution to the hunger crisis lies in Kenya prioritizing investments that can strengthen the resilience of communities to the recurring droughts.“Kenya should put more money and capacity in strengthening the resilience of communities to the recurring droughts. The issue in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land is poor rain, which is triggering a water crisis in a region where the livelihoods of millions of people are rain-fed crop and livestock production. In that case, it is obvious that we should be investing in harnessing groundwater, cost-effective water-harvesting facilities, and land-reclamation programmes as well as providing irrigation systems to support smallholder farmers to grow food and keep their livestock alive irrespective of the adverse weather conditions,” said Ms. Akinyi.
Shortage of water
The scoping exercise also shows that the water crisis in the ASAL has taken a heavy toll on girls and women with many having to walk 20 kilometres to fetch the precious liquid in areas such as Chari Ashe, Kilkille, Konon Gos, Kubi Adhi, Shankera, Forole, Kalesa, Burgabo, Tigo, Moite, Elmo village, Lekushula and Olturo. The drought has not spared many of the donkeys and camels that used to help fetch water. Some have either died while many others are too weak to undertake such hard work, compounding the already difficult situation.
It is even harder in Laisamis sub-county, Watiti in Moyale sub-county, Loiyangalani town, some villages in Golbo and Uran ward, where water is being sold to residents. Most vulnerable families, including child-headed households who cannot afford to buy the water, are having to find ways to raise the money, even if it means women and girls putting their health and lives at risk, to get the water.
Lack of water is also affecting school operations, such as the school-meals programme, and forcing hungry children to drop out of school.
The scoping study further found that in some schools, the feeding programme has been suspended due to inadequate funding.
On the other hand, families that depended on proceeds from their farm produce and sale of their livestock to pay school fees for their children, are now failing to raise the money.
A combination of these factors is a perfect recipe for an education disaster, and one that may further compromise the achievement of Kenya’s Vision 2030. The blueprint seeks, among other key pillars, to advance an equal society and real transformation in gender-equality; poverty-eradication; education and training; health; and water and sanitation.
School dropout
Meanwhile, at the dialogue, Ms. Catherine Okoth, 20, who also participated in the Girls Takeover Initiative, said significant progress towards Vision 2030 cannot be achieved without adequate child-protection and education for all girls.
“The same children affected by this hunger crisis are the future of Kenya. And if they are dropping out of school to fend for themselves, it means we are reversing the gains we have made over the years. We cannot transform Kenya into an industrializing middle-income country by 2030 if we fail to ensure education and training for all children,” said Ms. Okoth.
Another participant, 11-year-old Mary Anne Syombua who in the Girls Takeover Initiative took over the position of Plan International Country Director in Kenya, Ms. Atieno Onyonyi, emphasized the dangers associated with failure to ensure all children, particularly girls, remain in school.
On her part, Ms. Onyonyi, further highlighted that not only are children dropping out of school to bear the burden of looking after their siblings, take up domestic chores and do menial jobs to contribute to the upkeep of their families, the risk of girls falling into the child, early and forced marriage trap, as well as early childbearing, is now very high because of the drought-induced crisis.
“The consequences of girls failing to complete secondary education and acquiring foundational skills, are grave as they perpetuate poverty and affect their well-being. In future, their ability to make decisions in their families, communities and at national and global level will be negatively affected. It would be a big loss for our country if we fail to act adequately now to address the impact of the hunger crisis on children and women,” said Onyonyi.
Mobilization of resources
Ms. Onyonyi also said in Kenya, Plan International is mobilizing resources to accelerate the expansion of its gender-responsive interventions in Marsabit County.
“The needs for the women and girls, are super abundant, and partnerships are more critical now than ever before, for us to be able to pool resources and act fast to expand and sustain activities such as school meals; provide water, particularly in schools where girls are facing menstrual hygiene challenges causing them to skip classes; support women farmers to create other sources of livelihood for their economic empowerment and resilience building; and heighten campaigns against harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, which is associated with child marriage, unwanted pregnancies, and poverty.”
Way forward
The group urged donors and humanitarian actors to invest more in consultations with young people to inform the design of interventions; build their capacity to support community resilience and the ability to prevent and respond to protection risks; expand advocacy platforms that can help amplify young people’s voices including young male champions for gender-equality; as well as showcasing how the hunger crisis is affecting the lives and future of children and women in the hardest hit ASAL region.
The participants emphasized the need for girls and young women, to be included in platforms such as steering and technical committees and working groups where issues affecting them are discussed and interventions decided.
Concerted efforts are urgently needed to ensure adequate essential services for the prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence, exploitation, abuse and child labour are gender sensitive, youth and child friendly and easily accessible.
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